GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Federal
funding is expected to help with the construction of a proposed river
barrier aimed at controlling sea lamprey access into a western Michigan
waterway.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission
expects a $7 million increase to its annual budget that would help pay for
the barrier in the Grand River.

The barrier is part of a Grand
River restoration project and would deny sea lampreys access to more than
1,900 miles of new stream habitat.

The adjustable hydraulic structure
would be upstream of a dam that currently serves as a barrier to the
eel-like parasites that attack fish such as trout, salmon and whitefish.
They invaded the Great Lakes in the last century and decimated native fish
until a poison was developed that brought them under control.